Our Newsletter

Team Air Zone

HIGHLINE NOTES:Regular participants at many San Francisco Bay Area events, we are lucky to have had the Air Zone Flight Team be part of our Berkeley Kite Festival for many years.

We have known Team Captain Darrin Skinner and his wife Susan for 25 years, and they are among the few (and probably the only married couple) who can say they have been toevery Berkeley Kite Festival! True leaders in Bay Area kitting, they were the driving force behind the foundation of the Bay Area Sport Kite League. Their gentle leadership brought a gang of old timer kitefliers together to form the league, and Darrin served as our first president. Highline Kites is a longtime league supporter. In fact, Highline's owner Tom McAlister, was also a founding board member. Could that really have been 15 years ago! McAlister served six years on the BASKL Board, retiring only when his daughter was born. She is nine years old now. Can you do the math?

Other team member include John Gillespie, Aaron Champie and Francisco Navaro. Like Darrin John is a BASKL Board member. In 2003, John Gillespie produced one of the best BKF videos we have seen in a dozen years or more. Aaron Champie, son of local kitting icon Brian Champie was a regular weekend flier in Berkeley for many years. He also serves on BASKL's Board. Francisco Navarro is known for the the "Bowl Races" he often brings to events, and you guested it, Francisco is also a BASKL Board member.

Our thanks to the AirZone Flight Team and it's members for their support of the Berkeley Kite Festival and for keeping team kite flying alive in Norther California.

TEAM NOTES:In 2009, Team AirZone attended The American Kitefliers Association (AKA) Grand Nationals in Rochester, MN and placed First in Team Ballet and Second in Team Precision in their three-person configuration of Darrin, Aaron and John. They flew the final competitive performance of The Phantom routine.

In late 2009, new 3-person choreography was developed for Lawrence of Arabia. Darrin, Aaron and John will be traveling to Berck-sur-Mer for the World Sport Kite Championships in April, 2010 as the sole representative of the AKA.